Monday, March 26, 2012

Cory Doctorow loves the Taliban?

Got your attention? Does Cory Doctorow really support the Taliban? Well, no...I don't think so. But over at BoingBoing, (a popular news, tech & science blog) some comments I recently made critical of the Taliban seem to have hit a sore spot with BoingBoing's "Lead moderator", Antinous.

The article in question was a Tom the Dancing Bug graphic comparing the recent movie, "The Hunger Games" with recent real world happenings, including the American soldier charged with the killing of 17 men, women and children in Afghanistan.

While I agree and also stated the act was reprehensible, I couldn't help but point out that just 3 days later a Taliban roadside bomb killed 9 children and 4 women and while the slaying of the 17 was a rare and isolated incident, both discriminate and indiscriminate killings of women and children by the Taliban are commonplace on a monthly if not weekly basis.

Antinous has been critical of the U.S. in many past comments on the blog, some might even say downright anti-American in some cases but I honestly have no problem with that. I welcome open discourse and critique on politics world-wide but after I posted my initial comment Antinous quickly deleted it. At first I thought it was a fluke but no, when I tried to repost it that was deleted too. I posted three more comments in an attempt to espouse my views and all were deleted.

My comments weren't inflammatory, they contained no swears or naughty words, they were not indelicate and they were not xenophobic. I don't blame the Muslim people as a whole for the barbarous acts of the Taliban but apparently criticizing the Taliban is off-limits when Antinous is watching the BoingBoing comments with a hawk-eye.

It bothers me because BoingBoing has long been a bastion of freedom, speaking out against evil-doers and speaking up for the oppressed but apparently all it takes is one rogue moderator with a personal agenda to stir up drama. BoingBoing is no stranger to drama either, they've had a fair share of past drama with other former moderators who also seemed to have gotten a little too "drunk with power".

But since, I can't say what I want to say on BoingBoing, I'll say it here instead and since this is my own forum I'll take a little more time to elaborate and expound on my original comments, which were only about 3 or 4 sentences.

The massacre in Kandahar while reprehensible was an isolated incident and certainly not justified but consider this: In 2008 the Taliban massacred 25 people in a bus in Kandahar. In 2011 they fired a RPG at a schoolbus killing 4 children, the driver and causing horrific injuries to 14 children and 2 women. 3 days after an American soldier is charged with killing 17 Afghans, a Taliban roadside bomb killed 9 children and 6 women.

Those are just a few incidents from the last 4 years. I could give you numerous examples from the last four months. The Taliban commit these atrocities on regular basis. They don't apologize. These barbarisms aren't retaliation for acts by American forces. Most of the time they don't even involve American forces. These are simply evil people who want power and they do that by controlling the Afghan people with fear. Don't believe me? Don't take my word for it! Take the Taliban's word for it! They proudly issue public statements and openly take responsibility for these acts, murdering their "own" men, women and children.

They torture, extort, spray acid on women and children for going to school and rape and murder their own people on a regular basis. Where is the outrage? Where are the protests?

So, you'll forgive me if I can't take the Taliban seriously when they issue statements decrying the killing of 17 Afghans by an American soldier while vowing to take revenge for the deaths of innocent Afghan people when the Taliban have themselves slaughtered far more innocents while maintaining a smug, callous and of course "holier than thou" attitude. I'm not even talking about the deaths and killing of American military forces or Coalition forces. That at least I could understand. I'm talking about Taliban killing their own innocent Arab brothers, sisters and children plain and simple, non-combatants, most not even politically affiliated and the Taliban does it without remorse, without cause or justification and while reveling in the fact and even applauding themselves as lauding themselves as great heroes.

What saddens me is the Taliban's continued oppression and killing of their "own" people has become so commonplace that no one seems to even care anymore, much less the Afghan people themselves either through apathy or fear of reprisal.

I'm not saying the U.S. should remain in Afghanistan but let me ask you this...who is the Taliban going to blame their killing and murdering on when the U.S. isn't there anymore? The Taliban won't have an excuse when the U.S. leaves and they don't have an excuse now.

And if you want to hear something really rich on the 13th of March, Taliban insurgents opened fire and attacked a group of senior Afghan investigators that were...(drumroll) investigating the killings the American soldier Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is charged with. High-five Taliban! Time to publish another glowing press release patting yourselves on the back. I mean...honestly I couldn't make up shit that stupid.

2 comments:

Antinous is just a sanctimonious troll. He'll argue any side of a point and use his moderation powers to dominate. I can't comprehend why BB keeps him, but I quit reading that site earlier this year after about 10 years following it because the comments environment became so toxic (and the blog has become so commercial).